Halo Infinite co-op and Forge modes won’t be available at the game’s launch

Despite going hard marketing Halo Infinite multiplayer in the recent months — sharing an in-depth look at the power-ups, vehicles, bots and non-expiring Battle Pass options back in June, as well as the bad-ass Yoroi Samurai Spartan armor that’d be made unlockable for free in the game’s first multiplayer season, “Heroes of the Reach,” developer 343 Industries made a surprising announcement on Friday afternoon: Halo Infinite co-op and Forge modes won’t be available at the game’s launch.

The announcement that Halo Infinite co-op and Forge modes wouldn’t be available at the game’s launch was made by head of creative Joseph Staten in a development update video, who stressed that removing the Halo Infinite co-op and Forge modes was a difficult decision to make, but hopefully the right one in hindsight after the game’s release.

“Unfortunately, as we focused the team for shutdown and really focused on a quality experience for launch, we made a really tough decision to delay shipping campaign co-op for launch. And, we also made the tough call to delay shipping Forge past launch, as well,” Staten said.

343 Industries

“Our number one priority is making sure that whatever we ship, whenever we ship it, it meets the right quality bar across all platforms,” Staten added. “And when we looked at these two experiences, campaign co-op and Forge, we made the determination they’re just not ready. And as a studio we don’t want to ship things if they’re not ready.”

As it stands, 343 plans to implement the missing game modes at different intervals, with the campaign co-op becoming available three months after the game’s intended release in Season Two and the Forge mode, which allows for both playing and editing multiplayer maps, in Season Three (roughly six months after the game’s intended launch).

Halo Infinite is currently slated for a Holiday 2021 release, with Staten affirming that an official release date would be announced soon.

Are you disappointed at the fact that Halo Infinite co-op and Forge modes won’t be available at the game’s launch? Does it make you wonder what state the game would have been in if 343 Industries hadn’t delayed the game to 2021? Sound off in the comments.